Tradition
by Lannawannabe
Summary: Just some fluff I wrote. PT


Tradition  
  
By: Lannawannabe  
  
Note: This story has been brewing in my head for a while; so I thought I'd better get it down on paper (so to speak) before it overwhelmed my thought.  
  
It's mush. Fluff. So if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read this.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Star Trek: Voyager except my humble fanfiction stories. I don't own the characters, the species, the quadrants, or the starships.  
  
++++  
  
It had been an exhausting day. He'd spent the day navigating a peculiar asteroid field, with strangely shifting rocks. It had taken ten hours, and required a lot of concentration.  
  
Then he'd had a shift with the Doc, and those always exhausted him.  
  
Finally. Home for the night, thought Tom as he dragged himself down the corridor towards B'Elanna's quarters. Even when they didn't. . . well, you know, he usually slept there, or she in his quarters. It was comforting to hold her close and slip off into dreamland.  
  
Tonight, they'd probably change into their pajamas, curl up around each other in bed, and talk for a while until sleep claimed them.  
  
That was a comforting thought.  
  
++++  
  
B'Elanna was exhausted. She'd spent the whole day replacing relays in about a million places all over the ship. Then Carry annoyed her about something stupid, and she decided to call it quits for the night.  
  
She dragged herself down the corridor, and spotted Tom coming from the other directions. In spite of her tiredness, she smiled at him, and he smiled back. They met in front of her quarters and she let them in.  
  
Without even talking, they changed and fell into bed in their normal places. He lay down on his back, and she lay on her stomach, resting her head on his chest and throwing one leg and one arm over him. He slipped an arm around her shoulder and they both sighed in contentment.  
  
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, B'Elanna started talking. She talked about her day, and he listened, stroking the arm that lay across his chest. When she finished, he talked about his shift. She giggled softly, a sound that made him smile, when he talked about Harry's latest romantic interest, Ensign Jessie Coleman, the unreachable scientist from Geology.  
  
After he finished, they lay in silence for a minute or two. Then Tom felt a need to tell her something.  
  
"I miss my father."  
  
"Your father?"  
  
"Well, my whole family, but him especially. We left things so screwed up."  
  
"I'm sure he feels the same."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Silence again.  
  
"What brought this on?"  
  
"I was just wondering if he'd be proud of me for the work I did today."  
  
"I'm sure he would."  
  
"What about you? Do you ever miss your mother?"  
  
"Sometimes."  
  
He let her stop at that. But after a minute, she spoke again.  
  
"There was one thing she used to do that I miss. When I was little, she always used a Klingon blessing for the day. She'd tell me to think things through, be aware, and to have honor. It always made me feel stronger. More ready for the day."  
  
"Maybe, the blessing is still in place."  
  
"I don't feel it anymore, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so."  
  
He kissed her softly on the forehead, and they fell asleep.  
  
++++  
  
Sometime in the night Tom woke. He didn't know why. He lay there for a minute thinking. Then he got up, went to the computer terminal, and accessed a file. When he found what he wanted he smiled, and climbed back into bed.  
  
++++  
  
Tom woke to find B'Elanna looking at him. Her chocolate eyes smiled at him, and he smiled back. B'Elanna dropped at light kiss on his lips and got up.  
  
"It's time to get ready," she said. Tom groaned and pulled himself out of bed. But he had to admit, that was a nice thing to wake up to.  
  
++++  
  
A half hour later, they were ready to head to the Bridge for the Senior Staff meeting.  
  
"You ready?" called B'Elanna.  
  
Tom entered the room. "Will be in just one minute." He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, pulling her close. He kissed her softly on the forehead. "Judgment." Then he kissed her nose. "Awareness." He kissed her on the lips. "Honor."  
  
Tears filled her eyes. "Tom. . . how did you. . ."  
  
"I looked it up last night on the computer terminal while you were asleep."  
  
"Thank you," she whispered.  
  
"Your welcome. Let's go." She nodded.  
  
Once they reached the turbolift, a thought occurred to her. "Tom, you changed it. It's supposed to be a slap."  
  
"Somehow, I didn't think that would work for either of us."  
  
Her laughter filled the lift and he smiled. 


End file.
